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Soldier who killed his 20-month-old daughter jailed for six years

A soldier who killed his 20-month-old daughter after surviving a rogue attack in Afghanistan has been jailed for six years.

Lance Corporal Liam Culverhouse admitted causing the death of Khloe Abrams at an earlier hearing.

The Grenadier Guardsman was medically discharged from the Army after losing his right eye in the shootings at an Afghan National Police checkpoint in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province in November 2009. Five of his comrades were killed in the attack.

Eighteen months after returning home, Culverhouse assaulted Khloe at the family home in Northampton, resulting in the toddler suffering severe brain damage and fractures to her skull, ribs and limbs.

The toddler, who was just seven weeks old, was admitted to Northern General Hospital on May 8 2011.

Despite receiving medical treatment, she never recovered and died at the Rainbow Children's Hospice in Loughborough 18 months later on November 7 2012.

Sentencing Culverhouse today at Northampton Crown Court, the judge Mr Jeremy Baker said it was clear he had been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder following his ordeal but that did not diminish the fact he had caused the death of his daughter.

Jailing the 25-year-old for six years, Mr Baker said: "No one who has understood what happened to you in November 2009 whilst serving as a member of the British Army in Afghanistan can have anything but profound sympathy for the effect which it had upon you.

"Not only will you have to live with the physical symptoms including blindness in your right eye, but it is clear that the trauma of that and of witnessing the death of a number of your fellow soldiers has caused you to suffer from significant psychological damage, including post traumatic stress disorder".

But the judge added: "As I have said I accept that the effects of your mental condition contributed to your treatment of your daughter. However you acknowledged to police and others that prior to your experiences in Afghanistan you had always had a temper which manifested itself in other circumstances."